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A new video has emerged showing the demonstration of a new "cardboard" drone reportedly being used by Ukrainian forces to hit targets inside Russia, as Kyiv intensifies its long-range strike campaign.
A video published on Ukrainian journalist Yuriy Butusov's YouTube channel on Thursday showed a drone—blurred, presumably to protect sensitive information about its construction—detonating above a dummy target in a field in an unidentified location.
The video included a view shot from the drone as it arrived above the target, before exploding and spraying the area below with a large number of projectiles. The drones, Butusov wrote, "now pose a deadly threat to Russian aircraft."
The Corvo drones are manufactured by the Australian SYPAQ firm and have been credited with the successful attack on a Russian airfield in Kursk last weekend. Their largely cardboard construction reportedly allows them to proceed undetected by Russian radar systems.
The Russian Fighterbomber Telegram channel was the first to link the SYPAQ drones to last weekend's attack on an airfield in Kursk in western Russia, some 65 miles from Ukraine's northwestern border. In the caption of his drone demonstration video, Butusov said the cardboard drones were used in the Kursk strike.
The Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) lauded the operation though did not reveal the type of UAV used. An unnamed SBU source told The Kyiv Post that the strike hit "four Su-30 aircraft and one MiG-29" at the base, and damaged two Pantsir missile launchers and S-300 air defense system radars. Newsweek has contacted the Russian Defense Ministry by email to request comment.
RBC-Ukraine cited an anonymous SBU officer who said 16 UAVs were used, of which three were shot down. The officer said the strike was carried out by the SBU's 13th Division, Counterintelligence.
Though Ukraine has not confirmed the use of the SYPAQ drones, Ukraine's Ambassador to Australia Vasyl Myroshnychenko wrote on X, formerly known as Twitter: "Cardboard drones from Australia used in attack on Russian airfield."
SYPAQ signed a $700,000 deal with the Australian government in March to produce its Corvo drone system for supply to Ukraine. The company describes the platform as a "cardboard plane," though past press materials say the aircraft is made "almost entirely from waxed foamboard."
The drones are delivered flatpack, have a payload capacity of up to 6.6 pounds, and have a range of around 75 miles. Designed as a surveillance drone, recent reports suggest that Ukraine has converted the platform into a kamikaze strike UAV.
About the writer
David Brennan is Newsweek's Diplomatic Correspondent covering world politics and conflicts from London with a focus on NATO, the European ... Read more